Linux Display issue

[giblets]

Team GQ,

I have a weird Linux issue going on over here. I say weird, because I have no seen it before on any OS and it's hard to describe.

Essentially, sometimes some programs don't display all their characters. For example, if I open a browser and type in Gamequitters.com, it might display it as g  m   q  tt rs.c m

Initially I thought it might be a display issue as I connect my laptop to an external monitor when I am at home, but it seems to happen when I am on the move as well (though generally in my email program). The main ones that it happens to is spreadsheets, web browser, file browser, and e-mail.

Any help would be appreciated! I have attached a screenshot below, I have my monitors in a vertical set up. I would edit the image so you can only see the affected program but I have no idea how to do that without seeing the words!

[stabi]

Never had this issue, but I did some research, first of all I need a bit more information.

I assume you are on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and I read that it COULD be a kernel/driver issue, so I need your current kernel, type this into the terminal:

uname -a

And post the output.

You could also try and change the font system-wide to see if it's a font issue itself.

I would also need the output of the following:

glxinfo | grep -i vendor

lspci | grep VGA

egrep -i " connected|card detect|primary dev|Setting driver" /var/log/Xorg.0.log

 

[giblets]

Your research skills must be ninja-like, @stablish.

I am running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with Unity and I just changed the system font to Sans (seems like a safe option) utilising the Unity Tweak Tool.

uname output:

Linux geepeedee 4.14.0-11-generic #gpd SMP Thu Oct 12 09:34:06 CEST 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

glxinfo output:

server glx vendor string: SGI
client glx vendor string: Mesa Project and SGI
    Vendor: Intel Open Source Technology Center (0x8086)
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center

lspci output:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 22b0 (rev 34)

egrep output:

var/log/Xorg.0.log
[    15.210] (II) intel(0): Using Kernel Mode Setting driver: i915, version 1.6.0 20170818
[    15.508] (II) intel(0): Output DSI1 connected

 

I haven't been able to replicate the issue today, it seems sporadic.

[stabi]

Kernel seems fine.

Seems like it is an Intel GPU issue. 
Some people can't create it aswell from what I read, so.. if it happens again, try to disable Anti-Aliasing first in the Unity Tweak Tool (Appearance -> Fonts -> Antialiasing - It should be set to RGBA, so try to set it to none if it happens again and reboot if you don't see any changes). 

If this still wont help, we would need to take a look at the GPU drivers and maybe change them or try another Desktop Environment such as XFCE, KDE.

[giblets]

Alright I have done all that, lets see how we go! Thanks. If the dramas continue I'll swap to a window manager I think.